Summer's cruel. Sorry for taking so long.
Sliced across Asha's palm... The dull, scabbed-over hatch lines showed every touch of needle to skin. The lines were a dull, rusty color, but Loki could easily imagine them as a vivid red. And the pain. He'd experienced worst, of course, but self-inflicted pain... Didn't that hurt so much more, knowing you were willingly ready to damage yourself? But it wasn't all Asha's fault...
Loki couldn't understand why he was so taken aback by the sight. He had seen worse injuries. As we speak, he listened to the sounds of war, of Austin proving his marksmanship, of Natasha tirelessly taking down people she used to work with. But this... It must have been because it was someone as innocent as Asha. That had to be it. That was all. That was... no... it wasn't.
"That was my fault," Loki didn't mean to say it aloud, but it slipped out anyway. He cursed silently to himself, not understanding how he had lost control of his words. Caring about her may only give her or Thor the wrong idea.
Asha looked down at her palm, getting what he was saying. Her eyebrows pinched together, as if trying to find an appropriate response to this.
"I don't care," She said casually, offhandedly, eyes darting away to watch the fighting. Away from Loki. How simple she sounded! Did she not understand what Loki had made her do for him? Clearly, her loyalty was undoubtable, but to go that far, it was heartbreaking.
Yes, but I care, Loki was glad to regain enough control not to say that. He did care, and he wanted to tell Asha this, but expressing any type of affection for this girl, any concern for her wellbeing...
Oh yeah. That was another thing that was his fault.
"Asha, earlier," Loki sighed. He couldn't believe he was apologizing for something as inane as this. Considering all the other out-of-character stuff he had done, though, this probably wasn't all that bad. "I think I lashed out at you when my anger had really been intended for another."
"I know." Asha said. "Thor's trying to set us up," Loki wasn't too surprised she already knew. News like that probably spread like wildfire across the gossiping mortal tongue. However, her voice seemed to catch in a strange way on Thor's name, and Loki could see the look in Asha's eyes when she recalled the event glaze over in a different sort of way then what he might expect. He could just tell. He was a reader, the best there was.
"And you heard this from..?" Loki asked.
"Straight from the horse's mouth." Asha smiled. Loki stumbled over that expression, staring at her blankly. "Thor himself," she stated. Thor. Thor came to Asha, to see how she was faring, while his brother was imprisoned, only a floor below her. He didn't want to be jealous, he didn't want to admit he envied Asha in any way, but Thor was pushing it. The thunder god was pushing it far beyond Loki's zone of calamity.
"And how is the thunder god?" Loki asked with a bit of a hiss. "He seems not to have time for me," Asha looked at him sadly, understandingly. She said nothing about it, but they both knew she felt sorry for him. The liesmith, not wanting pity of any kind, narrowed his eyes, warning her off. She looked to the ground.
"He's bent on the idea that we would be the perfect couple," Asha said, trying to sound annoyed, but Loki could see the smile hiding in her eyes. Of course she liked it. As responsive as she was to Loki, off course she would be glad there were those who promoted her feelings towards him. But this was so unnecessary, the whole setup, though nothing would ever change Thor's mind. Ever. "Though it's mainly structured around the fact that I'm the only mortal on Earth willing to go within four feet of you."
"You aren't mortal," Loki said firmly, sure of it. Besides, he didn't want her to be. He didn't want a weakling willingly bowing at his feet, he wanted someone with power and use. "You just can't be. I don't know what you actually are, but you are far greater than mortal." Asha paused.
"Is that a compliment...?" She asked, uncertain.
"It is," Loki assured her. "Mortals are unruly and significantly weak."
"Should I take the word of the god of lies?"
Loki smiled, letting out loose "hah" of laughter. "Never. But now, I give you the truth,"
Asha grinned. "Thank you for your honesty, Loki,"
"If you two aren't too busy smiling at eachother," Austin called out, reloading. "they don't exactly seem to be dwindling in numbers." He was right. A thin but steady stream of agents were coming from the lift at the end of the hall as replacements for the fallen.
Loki, rather ticked off (but thankfully not showing it) about Austin's comment, raised his scepter to fire. He should not have made a fool of himself just then. Wasn't he supposed to be proving he wanted nothing to do with Asha?
"I do not like your brother," Loki said, taking the scepter and willing it to shoot the same blue-white orb down to the agents. The blue sphere at the scepter's top glowed, and from its pulse came the orb of destruction.
Natasha saw this and slid out of the explosion's range, even swifter than Loki could have hoped. He also saw Austin jump in shock as it flashed by his face, mere inches from hitting him.
Let's call that a warning shot, Loki decided.
The orb collided into the back of an unlucky someone's head, and released its destructive energy from that point. SHIELD agents were blasted into the walls, outward from the explosion. It shook the hallway a bit, even sprinkling some smoky dust to the ground.
When the dust settled, all the SHIELD agents were lying down, splashed around the room at uncomfortable angles. Loki, stepping forward to examine the damage, saw the closest to the explosion's heart were dead, the rest unconscious.
"Nice shot," Asha said softly, coming out from behind the doorway she had been hiding behind. It was hardly a shred of praise, but Loki smiled to himself, behind his impassive expression.
Austin, (surprise, surprise) did not share his sister's feelings. He effortlessly found a way to twist Loki's small victory into a flaw.
"And you just couldn't have done that earlier, could you?" He accused. "That might have saved a good amount of time, you know,"
"It is not that I couldn't," Loki replied smoothly, matching Austin's gaze. "It's just, the entire time, I was debating on whether or not to aim at the squad or at your tiny, disrespectful head."
Asha looked away, in embarrassment, Loki saw, her hunched posture indicating she was ashamed of the two of them. But she was a bit of a pushover, unconfident and much too timid to say anything about it.
"Gentlemen, please," Natasha cut in. "Is this necessary?" Loki's annoyance spiked, seeing as Natasha was acknowledging both of them as the source of trouble when it was clearly Austin who was creating these problems. But that was a childish and immature thing to say, so Loki kept his mouth shut. He learned eons ago that something like a tattletale was never smiled upon. It was always Thor smashing things and making the mess when they were children, but it was always Loki who got the hard looks from the maids. He'd always get that same, displeased, disappointed look from Odin whenever Loki tried to tell on his brother. Odin never liked hearing him complain. So Loki got smart and shut up about it, but that didn't stop him from getting a little bit of vengeance on Thor. He learned that a few silky words rolling off the silver tongue could easily throw his aggressive, arrogant brother into more trouble than loud complaints ever could. And so, Loki became a master of mischief and lies.
(AN: At least, that's how I see it)
"Come on, Loki," Asha turned to him. Natasha was leading once more, with Austin more or less next to her. Asha was facing her god, but definitely on the verge of walking away. Loki had been too lost in thought to see the group already leaving. His thoughts, always leading from one thing to the next, never stopping, never letting up. Distracting him, always drawing him away from the real world. Maybe Asha wasn't all that crazy with her biting.
"Of course," Loki said, striding beside her, though looking straight ahead.
"The lift's empty," Natasha observed, looking into the elevator. "They've stopped coming through here, but we could encounter more agents upstairs."
"Let's take an emergency exit," Austin suggested. "Agents don't use those for attack. It would set off an alarm, but considering all we've done so far, it would be lost among whatever alarms are going off on the upper level."
"And they are the fastest way out of here," Asha pointed out softly.
"Good idea." Natasha nodded at the two of them. A bit of a wall, invisible but nearly tangible in Loki's mind, formed between him and his allies. They were in power here. They knew what they were doing. Even Asha could contribute. But this whole place was unfamiliar, alien to Loki. He completely and utterly relying on these three people, two of them mortal and one in question. He needed to trust them to get him where he needed to go. Only one and maybe another was completely on his side. Only one had real power. Only one had real information on the Avengers. The other was nearly useless. Everything was unbalanced. Loki was not confident in his allies, but for now, they would have to do. They were all he had. For now.
Natasha continued to talk tactics. "We'd need to take the exit branching off of the left wing, near all those old labs and stuff. My car's on the lot above it. I've got a plan from there."
"Right," Austin said, his voice sounding a little more let down. His satisfaction from his good suggestion seemed to be wearing off now, now that Natasha was once again taking over.
"Then follow me," The black clad agent pushed through them, in the opposite direction of the lift. Once again, for something like the fifth time, the rest of them followed behind her.
Down the hall, the four walked quickly, the only sound echoing across the walls were their hurried footsteps. Mixed expressions on each face. Natasha was undeniably in control, calm and determined. Austin's eyebrow appeared to be permanently angled down in frustration and anger. Poor little Asha, dwarfed by her own minute size, was looking overwhelmed. Like this was too much for her to handle. Like she was just a child.
"Chin up, Asha," Loki murmured, looking down at her. She met his gaze, uncertainly. "Let's set a bit of determination on that face, shall we?" She gave a weak smile, then looked away, her eyes cast down to the floor. Loki couldn't help but notice her eyelashes. He liked how long they were, how elegantly they framed her eyes. That was something about Asha, Loki noticed. She wasn't outwardly beautiful, but little things, her eyelashes, the shape of her lips, the shine of her hair, once noticed, actually made her look very nice. Asha wasn't curvy, or even noticeably thin, but her slimmer figure suggested an air of elegance. Her skin wasn't smooth or flawless, marked with small, unflattering scars, but the pale color was actually pleasing to Loki. Now that he finally saw these things, he realized how lovely she seemed. Delicate, not weak.
"You're... staring." Asha had shifted uncomfortably under Loki's gaze. She wrapped her arms around herself, pressing the sketchbook to her chest.
"Hm," Loki let out a small sigh. He hated apologizing for such meaningless of fences, so he wouldn't bother with it. Already, he had put himself lower than the girl with pointless apologies. He could not afford to go any lower. "I have my reasons. You have no use in questioning them." But he wasn't totally cruel, so he looked up and away to relieve her.
"Oh," Asha's voice was soft. "Sorry." So instead, she apologizes. How was it that she still acts like the perfect subject? Loki was enjoying Asha's company more and more.
Loki caught Natasha looking back at them, something glinting in her eyes. Curiosity? Hm. Something of the sort. Mingling with... satisfaction.
The Black Widow steered them to the right, into a large lab room. It was empty, with a few tables and equipment scattered about the place. At the end of the room was a black door marked EMERGENCY EXIT, DO NOT USE in bright red lettering. Too late. They were using it.
Natasha pushed it open, and all around them, an alarm rang out. A very loud alarm, at that. It was an annoying, continuous ring that rattled in Loki's ears. Mortal contraptions were so noisy. Cars, planes, construction tools, and just about everything else. You could never find silence on this planet. Well, that would be one thing he would most definitely change as their king.
Behind the door was a flight of stairs, which the four began climbing up. In this space the ringing was so much louder as it echoed across the walls.
"I don't remember drill alarms being so loud," Austin remarked offhandedly. Even if it was just some way to make conversation, he did notice. Natasha nodded.
Well, it was going to give Loki brain damage if he listened any longer.
"Silence," He commanded the air in a hissing undertone. And, to his surprise, the noise ceased, as if muffled by an invisible force. It just disappeared. Good, Odin hadn't gotten rid of all Loki's magic abilities.
The three paused, looking around in question. All gazes finally landed on Loki.
"Did you do that?" Asha asked, sounding slightly amazed.
"You sound surprised," Loki remarked without interest. "I'm a sorcerer, and that alarm was annoying. Let's continue, shall we?"
"Loki-Doki," A new voice, a- no, not again. "you just can't stay in one place, can you? And you know, just cuz you took 'Tasha instead of Hawky isn't convincing anyone you're straight."
Tony Stark.
I just always leave off with Tony, don't I?
Hey guys, my friend (another one of Loki's army) on deviantart drew a couple (so far only 3) pictures for this fanfic. She also designed the cover. While she isn't quite as good an artist as Asha... she's good! here's the link for the gallery:
gallery/32819389#
